We all know about matching the hatch...we all know fish follow a food source...

on this particular lakes region N.H. lake early season always seems to find the rainbows grubbing the rocks...latter they key in on smelt staging in front of the streams to spawn... the area I fish is a boulder field in close proximity to deep water... late season this area gets infested with small mouth bass.. fun.. but not what I'm looking for most trips...

yesterday .. I arrived at day break and after assuring myself the ice was safe ( 8" total) I headed to my area I planned to fish... a clear break in the pattern of the surface ice made me check the ice as I neared the break.. sure enough.. the ice went from 8" to 3" in just a few steps... I modified my plan and shifted to another simualr location... the new Ion XC5 ice auger is a pleasure to use and it cut quickly and silently... I baited 3 tip ups with medium shiners.. the rest with salmon eggs... tip ups were set in water depths from 1' to 13'.. the deeper sets were set 5' below the ice surface with unweight shiners so I could pretty much cover the whole water column... I only had 2 flags all day.. both from the same hole.. both next to a large boulder in 8' of water...

back home a review of the stomach contents revealed why these fish were caught in this area... the brown and rainbow were keying in on the yellow perch fry... the brown.. true to their nature stuffed its gut with hellgrammites ... the rainbow dined on crayfish as a dessert item...both fish were in this area specifically for these items... and knowing that... is the reason I'm having fresh trout for dinner tonight.